Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)

Directed by: Paul WS Anderson | 95 minutes | action, horror, science fiction, thriller | Actors: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Michelle Rodriguez, Bingbing Li, Boris Kodjoe, Johann Urb, Robin Kasyanov, Kevin Durand, Ofilio Portillo, Oded Fehr, Shawn Roberts, Toshio Oki, Takato Yamashita, Mika Nakashima, Megan Charpentier, Ave Merson- O’Brian, Ray Olubowale, Kevin Shand

You have to hand it to Resident Evil director Paul WS Anderson: he knows how to flatter his wife. Just like in the first four parts of the zombie series, wife Milla Jovovich is tight in her playsuit and she is given ample opportunity to kill mutated scum with feline grace. The fact that the fight and action scenes are based on a wafer-thin story should not spoil the fun. Or so slowly?

‘Resident Evil: Retribution’ picks up where ‘Resident Evil: Afterlife’ left off: aboard the freighter Arcadia, where Alice (Milla Jovovich) set out to create a safe haven for survivors of the zombie plague. This dream goes up in smoke when the Arcadia comes under attack from troops of the Umbrella Corporation. Alice is captured and awakens in a secret research station where Umbrella has recreated several world cities to test the course of a virus outbreak on a population of cloned guinea pigs. When Alice tries to escape, she gets help from an unexpected source: villain Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts) has pondered his sins after his defeat in ‘Afterlife’ and formed an assault team to mount a rescue. But with what motive?

‘Retribution’ feels like a reunion. It seems as if Anderson has had all supporting actors who could find a hole in their agenda come in to put the flowers out one more time. While fleeing the research station, Alice runs into Rain Ocampo (Michelle Rodriguez), Luther West (Boris Kodjoe), Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr), and Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory). If that’s not enough, there is also a clone of some characters around. In addition, a number of well-known opponents once again speak for themselves: bad guy Wesker seems ineradicable and the zombie with the hammer from part four has taken his twin brother for twice as much slaughter fun for the occasion. There is also a visit to the corridor with the deadly egg cutter made of laser beams. For seasoned fans, ‘Retribution’ is a feast of recognition; critical cinemagoers mainly see repetition.

New are the Las Plagas zombies that we know from the game on which the film cycle is based: zombies with a Nazi-like appearance and a motorcycle license, who sow death and destruction in the fake version of Moscow. Incidentally, on their flight from the Umbrella facility, Alice and her rescue team visit almost all recreated world cities; a trick to keep the fights interesting by providing them with an ever-changing backdrop. It should be clear that the Resident Evil series increasingly consists of recycled elements that are refreshed with a lick of paint; some scenes are even copied directly from previous installments. And like previous installments, ‘Retribution’ suffers from an illogical, complicated plot.

‘Resident Evil: Retribution’ is mainly about the action and the special effects, and those are also the points on which the film scores. The opening scene in particular impresses by showing the attack on the Arcadia backwards and in slow motion. If the same fragment is played in the normal way afterwards, the hypnotic effect is gone; proof that faster is not always better. The level of the opening scene is no longer reached in the rest of the film, but that does not alter the fact that the effects and the choreography of the fight scenes look neat and that Milla Jovovich does her thing as always. If that’s enough, the latest ‘Resident Evil’ will put you in good hands as a zombie fan, but let’s face it, any episode of ‘The Walking Dead’ will do you better.